Revisiting impact in the context of workplace research: a review and possible directions

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revisit the scholarly impact agenda in the context of work-based and workplace research, and to propose new directions for research and practice.Design/methodology/approach: This paper combines a contemporary literature review with case vignettes and reflections from practice to develop more nuanced understandings, and highlight future directions for making sense of impact in the context of work-based learning research approaches.Findings: This paper argues that three dimensions to making sense of impact need to be more nuanced in relation to workplace research: (1) that interactional elements of workplace research processes have the potential for discursive pathways to impact, (2) that presence (and perhaps non-action) can act as a pathway to impact, and (3) that the narrative nature of time means there is instability in making sense of impact over time. Research limitations/implications:The paper proposes a number of implications for practitioner-researchers, universities/research organisations, and focuses on three key areas: the amplification of research ethics in workplace research, the need for axiological shifts towards sustainability, and the need to explicate axiological orientation in research.Originality/value: This paper offers a contemporary review of the international impact debate in the specific context of work-based and workplace research approaches.

The Effects of Situational Factors in the Implementation of Work-Based Learning Model on Vocational Education in Indonesia

“…The results of other studies state that work-based learning in the field of drama art has a positive impact on the ability to explore, experiment, and play drama seriously (Pässilä et al, 2017;Wall, T., Bellamy, L., Evans, V. and Hopkins, S. (2017); Österlind, E., 2018).…”

Professional artefacts: evaluating creative outcomes for work-based inquiry

“…As a part of a work-based project, the individual learner explores a topic related to their professional role within an organisation, team or community of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991). The inquiry involves pragmatic insider-research (Costley et al , 2010) as a way of problem-solving or improving practice in a broad professional context that involves creating positionality, reflexivity and impact within the workplace (Wall et al , 2017). Work-based studies have many points in common with progressive higher education pedagogy that embraces more flexible conditions within higher education (Barnett, 2014) and encourages a wider understanding of graduate attributes like learner empowerment, transformative capabilities, crossing boundaries and social learning (Ryan and Tilbury, 2013).…”

Exploring the impact of reflective and work applied approaches

“…As you will soon discover, the Special Issue attracted a wide range of perspectives, practices, and provocations in line with a more pluralistic notion of impact, and the areas of debate above. In the first paper, Wall, Bellamy, Evans and Hopkins (2017) provide a contemporary synthesis and review of the impact agenda in relation to work applied management and change approaches. In their paper entitled “Revisiting impact in the context of workplace research: a review and possible directions”, they draw on a diverse range of data to provide a more nuanced commentary on three key dimensions of, and pathways to, impact: the potentiality of the interactive, discursive nature of all research activity in shaping impact, the potential role of presence (and perhaps non-action) in shaping and delivering impact, and the narrative nature of time means there is instability in making sense of impact over time.…”